Chicago suburban renters grew twice as fast as urban renters

byRincey AbrahamMay 12, 2017

From 2011 to 2015, Chicago suburban area renters strongly outpaced urban area renters, according to a report from Rent Café. The suburban net gain over those five years was 57,600, a 12 percent increase, while the urban net gain was only 37,000, which was a 6 percent increase. However, more there are still more renters within the city of Chicago (56.1 percent) versus renters in the suburbs.

According to the website, more renters are choosing the suburbs because the schools are better, the communities are quieter and the rent is significantly cheaper. In Chicago, the average rent in urban areas was $1,643 while the average rent in suburban areas was only $1,135.

Another major factor to the increase in suburban renters is that many suburban developers have been building higher end garden-style apartment communities in the suburbs similar to what you would get in major cities.

But construction in the suburbs has not kept up with the construction happening in the city. A total of 300,000 new apartments were built in the 20 cities looked at by Rent Café, compared to 180,000 in the suburbs.

From 2011 to 2015, city apartment construction was up 224 percent, while suburban construction was up 146 percent. However, some experts believe that changing demographics may lead to suburban apartment markets to become the next major trend in multifamily construction.